1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus for capturing an image by using a solid image pickup device and a method of controlling the display of the same. More specifically, the present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus having a manual focusing function and a method of controlling the display of the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known image pickup apparatuses using a solid image pickup device, such as a digital still camera and a digital video camera, generally have an auto focusing (AF) function of automatically bring an image into focus. However, in recent years, many image pickup apparatuses have a manual focusing function of manually bring an image into focus. In such an image pickup apparatus, usually, a picked up image is displayed on a monitor (or an electronic viewfinder), such as an LCD (liquid crystal display), provided at the rear surface thereof. A user confirms the focus adjusted state by viewing the monitor.
In the image pickup apparatuses with an auto focusing function according to the related art, some images, as the result of the focus adjustment, are displayed on a monitor such that a user can recognize when focusing has occurred. For example, some image pickup apparatuses have a function of displaying a lock mark when focusing is completed or a function of highlighting an area brought into focus among divided areas of an image. Also, some image pickup apparatuses apply a color that is different from the color of the subject to the edge of a subject brought into focus (for example, JP-A-2001-8085 (paragraph [0019] and FIG. 4).
Meanwhile, some of the image pickup apparatuses with a manual focusing function according to the related art display edge detection information on a monitor as a bar graph, and some highlight an area brought into focus among divided areas on a monitor. Further, some image pickup apparatuses change the color of each of the divided areas according to the focused state based on edge detection information (for example, JP-A-6-113183 (paragraphs [0022] to [0039] and FIG. 2).
However, in a technique for showing a focused state for every divided area at the time of adjusting focus by manual operation, when a plurality of subjects exist in the same area, a user cannot differentiate which subject is focused. For this reason, it is necessary to change composition so as to reset an area or focus on a specific area.
Further, in order for precise focus adjustment, it is preferable that the user view the sharpness of the subject displayed on the monitor and discriminate the adjusted state. However, most monitors provided on the rear surfaces of image pickup apparatuses do not have such a resolution and size that the user can precisely confirm the sharpness of a subject due to the size or the manufacturing cost. For this reason, it is difficult to precisely adjust focus by manual operation by using a visual observation method.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an image pickup apparatus capable of precisely adjusting manual focus while viewing an image displayed on a monitor.
It is also desirable to provide a method of controlling the display of an image pickup apparatus capable of precisely adjusting manual focus while viewing an image displayed on a monitor.